It took 25ish hours to fall in love

Getting smitten with the work

There's something about a large painting that makes my heart sing—the scale, detail, brushwork, the large colors that overtake the onlooker's entire view. This month I began painting this bridge piece, the sister to my highway overpass painting. 
 

These big paintings take a lot of hours and serious commitment that can be hard to be faithful to, especially in the beginning. It's quite like a new relationship.

At first I'm doubtful, scared, nervous what will come. Then at some point in the process I turn a corner and I fall in love. A point where colors and shapes begin to come together in a way that springs joy, and I simply get smitten. And like falling in love with a person, I begin to crave extra hours in the day to spend time with it.

For this big guy, I fell in love around hour 25 or so. That's about 10 days of sittings when I was more nervous than smitten. But now we're honeymooning.

Here's my favorite corner as it developed:

A few things worth sharing

• ARTIST: RIP Wayne Thiebaud who died last month at the age of 101. Here's a short video interview with him, and he shares deep wisdom about life and art, including:

  • "'I want to become a painter. How do I do that?' [chuckle] With extreme difficulty and reality. You probably won't be able to make a living, but you can make a life, with a kind of calm and ineffable-ness."

• FOOD: I found a recipe for the empanadas from Buenos Aires Cafe in Austin and drooool. I paired mine with a cilantro chimichurri. 

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